IGHOR

Hi HN,

I built App Archiver after working on Parall, where I had to install and test many macOS apps. My disk filled up quickly, but I did not want to delete rarely used apps because I knew I would forget they existed.

App Archiver compresses apps while keeping them visible in Applications, Spotlight, Alfred, and Raycast. An archived app remains available in one click, so you can restore it when needed instead of searching for and downloading it again.

Unlike cleaner tools that remove caches which quickly return, App Archiver saves space by working with the app bundles themselves. It can archive apps, optimize installed apps, show potential savings, verify every archive before removing the original data, and restore apps later.

The app is intentionally built without Internet access. It does not collect data, use analytics, or connect anywhere.

App Archiver is $4.99 on the Mac App Store.

Website https://apparchiver.com

Mac App Store https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6794885091

It also contains an MIT-licensed open source component available here https://github.com/julyighor/apparchiver

I would appreciate feedback on the workflow, compression results, and which features would make it more useful for managing large app collections.

This is my old story from 2017, but I had never published it in English before. I found a way to escape an Android-based in-flight entertainment UI through USB media handling, opened Chrome on the seatback screen, and reported it to Turkish Airlines.

I made Parall, a macOS app that can wrap terminal-launched GUI apps into app bundles that behave like normal Mac apps. The shortcut can have its own menu bar icon, its own Dock icon, and optional animated Dock effects.

A practical use case is local development. For example, I can take a Go + Fyne app or a Python GUI app that I normally launch from Terminal, export it as a Parall shortcut, pin it to the Dock, and relaunch the latest code with one click.

It is not meant to replace a full packaging pipeline for distribution. The goal is to make local GUI apps and terminal-driven workflows feel much more natural on macOS.

Happy to answer technical questions about how it works.

I need to ask you to rename your project. "DockLock" is the name of my existing product, and using the same name for a similar macOS app creates clear confusion.

https://docklockpro.com

DockLock Lite was created in February 2025, and I have public evidence of prior use and release history. Your current presentation also implies invention of a solution that I had already created and shipped earlier.

I am not objecting to open source competition. I am objecting to the use of my product name and to misleading presentation of origin. Other replicas have already copied the UI or the method. This one now copies the name as well.

Please rename the project and update the description to avoid confusion.

More broadly, people should understand what they are supporting. When people support open source replicas of original products, they encourage more replicas. Supporting DockLock Lite means supporting original innovation and the creation of more first-of-its-kind apps.

Also, presenting this as a trivial fix is misleading. In practice, reliably stabilizing Dock position on macOS across real multi-display setups requires far more than a simple one-step workaround. DockLock Lite is not an AI-generated, It was independently invented and built from scratch, with substantial engineering work behind the techniques and edge-case handling required to make Dock positioning reliably stable.

Hi HN, I built Parall, a macOS utility that generates small shortcut app bundles.

In the new v2.0 update, those shortcuts can drive animated Dock icons and visual effects per shortcut. It is basically a way to "theme" the native Dock icon by icon, without replacing the Dock and without overlays. Effects include rotation, pulsing, opacity, grayscale, and transforms.

The interesting part is that effects are state-aware. You can set different visuals for each combination of: - AC or Battery - App Running or Closed

So you can keep icons fully normal while running, but fade and desaturate them when closed, or disable animation on battery.

Parall originally started as a way to run multiple instances of the same macOS app with optional data separation (useful for things like two Discord accounts, two Dropbox accounts, or separate Chrome environments). v2.0 keeps that, but the Dock effects are the "new capability" part.

It does not patch macOS or modify target apps. It just generates shortcuts that you can pin to the Dock, and you can remove them to revert.

I built FTVDB.com as a single place to collect firmware update URLs and make them easy to browse, search, and reuse.

It originally supported Fire TV based devices. I’m happy to share that I extended it to support all Kindle E Ink devices as well.

How it works • Community submits firmware URLs • The system automatically extracts metadata and organizes everything per device in a structured, easy-to-read format • The full database is saved to GitHub as JSON files, so it’s easy to integrate into any service, script, or workflow: https://github.com/FTVDB/FTVDB

Amazon publishes current Kindle firmware download links publicly, so new Kindle versions will be added automatically as they appear.

If you have URLs for older Kindle firmware packages that are missing, I’d appreciate submissions to help complete the archive.

Fully automated and anonymous — no logs are saved about who submits URLs.

I built Parall, a macOS app that creates real app bundles as shortcuts. Each shortcut launches the original app binary directly and can act like a separate install with its own data and settings.

The new 1.1.1 update adds a tray menu option for any shortcut. When the target app is running, Parall can start a small helper that shows a tray icon in the menu bar for that specific shortcut. From that menu you can show or hide the app, quit it, and open the shortcut data folder or bundle in Finder. For supported browsers the tray menu also has items to open a new window or a new incognito window.

I shipped v1.0.5 of Parall, a macOS utility I built that creates isolated shortcut bundles which launch apps as independent instances. This release adds a single technical change that materially expands what the app can do. A far more capable HOME directory override. It now works with the majority of macOS apps.

With the app you get - True, per-instance data separation for many apps that previously shared profiles. - Unlimited simultaneous instances that behave like separate installations. - Ability to set env vars and command-line args per shortcut and pin multiple custom Dock icons that each run the same app with different data.

Tested apps in this build (full support verified): FreeCAD, Blender, Opera, Tor Browser, Qt Creator, FileMaker Pro, Git Tower, Telegram Desktop, Viber, Discord, Dropbox, OBS, KiCad, Plex, Spotify, Sublime Text, Sublime Merge, LightBurn.

Concrete examples - Run multiple Dropbox clients with different accounts and sync different folders simultaneously. - Run multiple Discord/Viber/Telegram Desktop instances, each logged into a different account. - Pin multiple Dock icons for the same app. Each icon launches an isolated instance with its own profile and icon.

Hi HN,

I'm an indie macOS developer and recently released Parall, a small utility that solves a long-standing macOS limitation - the inability to easily run multiple instances of the same app.

Many years ago, when I switched from Windows to macOS, I was surprised that I couldn't just open another copy of an app - even for something simple like having two browser profiles with separate Dock icons. I used to rely on terminal commands and scripts, but they were clunky, temporary, and often broke after app updates.

Parall fixes that cleanly and natively. It creates independent app shortcuts (.app bundles) that behave like real apps - each with its own Dock icon, name, and (optionally) separate data folder.

It works offline, uses no hacks or background services, and is fully sandboxed and approved on the Mac App Store. For Chromium-based browsers like Chrome, Edge, Brave, and Vivaldi, it can assign unique data directories so you can open multiple isolated profiles at once.

Parall is the first macOS app of its kind to do this properly and natively.

Website: https://parall.app Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6754065114

Would love to hear feedback from other macOS devs.

For years, macOS users have struggled with the Dock randomly jumping between screens when using multiple monitors. Apple never fixed it, despite countless forum complaints. I built DockLock Lite to lock the Dock in place, and now I’m building DockLock Pro to give users full control over Dock movement with hotkeys, automation, and custom rules. No system hacks—just a clean, App Store-safe fix.

Would love to hear feedback from fellow macOS users. Have you experienced this issue?

Viber restricted users to authorize in WP7/8.1/Symbian/iOS4 But if you already authorized you still can use the Viber. Also SMS field in the old versions is 4 digits length, but newer field is 6 digits. They just restrict a Viber apps to authorize if its version is too low. I decided to reverse it and made a proxy that brings it to life again! Just follow the instructions from the link and you are good to go. Once proxy used, you can remove it and continue to use a Viber as normally would. Old devices become more useful again!